South African scientists from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg have discovered that humans may have mastered shoemaking in the Middle Stone Age. The research was published in the official gazette Web site scientific institution.
The oldest known shoe in Europe is 6 thousand years old. In South Africa, it was believed that people walked barefoot until the beginning of our era, 2 thousand years ago. However, the discovery of various prints on ancient surfaces in the Cape Coast region of South Africa raises the possibility that early humans invented flip-flops for walking on sharp coastal rocks between 150,000 and 75,000 years ago.
“It makes sense that people use shoes to protect themselves. One hundred thousand years ago, a foot injury could have been fatal, study author Bernhard Zipfel said.
To test his guesses, the archaeologist made primitive shoes and walked in them along the beaches of Cape Coast. They then compared the footprints to ancient prints and found significant similarities.
Researchers say the early use of flip-flops shows that ancestors of modern humans developed complex cognitive and practical abilities much earlier than previously thought.
Earlier archaeologists appreciated The contribution of beavers to human life in the Stone Age.